DOI Kapitel:
Painters, Sculptors, Architects, Engravers, and their Works
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61295#0363
HOLBEIN — HOLLAR.
341
offence against his own royal person. As an engraver on wood
Holbein deserves especial notice. Before leaving Switzerland he
was employed by the most celebrated publishers of his time in Basle
Zurich, Leyden, and Lyons. His wood-cuts of the “ Dance of
Death” are his most important works. When complete, there are
fifty-three prints; but it is rare to find more than forty-six. They
are small, upright pictures, surrounded by a border. His Old Tes-
tament prints numbered ninety, and the best impression of them was
published in 1539 at Lyons, by the brothers Treschel. These two
series have been often reproduced. That engraved by Hollar in
1789 is finely executed. That by Dance, in 1833, is also excellent.
Holbein also made wood-cuts for a catechism executed in 1548. This
work is extraordinary and rare. It was republished at London in 1829.
The “ Pastime of the People, or the Chronicles of Divers Realms, and
most especially of the Realm of England,” printed first in 1529, was
republished by Dibden in 1811. Very few copies exist. In an illus-
tration of the Revelation of St. John, published by T. Wolff in 1523,
twenty-one wood-cuts of the Apocalypse are attributed to Holbein. A
celebrated wood-cut of an upright figure, under a decorated gate, called
Erasmus of Rotterdam, has been more recently printed; for the copper
still exists. In the first and second impressions there were Latin
inscriptions which have been omitted more recently. His “ Moriae
Encomium ” has been frequently printed. It consists of plates after
his humorous drawings, and is by no means among his best produc-
tions. There are also many title-pages, symbolical alphabets, etc.;
and the following portraits : —
Prince Henry Frederick; full length.
Thomas Egerton, Viscount Brackley, Lord Chancellor.
Sir John Hayward, Kt., LL. D.
Martin Billingsley, writing master.
Giovanni Floris, Italian master to Anne of Denmark.
Michael Drayton; prefixed to his works.
Holland. See Dance.
. v / Hollar, Wenceslaus, born at Prague (1607-
/ Vy z/ 1677). This eminent engraver was the pupil
VY, ' / of Matthew Merian. In 1636 the Earl of
Arundel met Hollar in Cologne, and considered his talents so re-
markable that he engaged his services, and took him to England,
where he made many plates, a large number 'being from the pictures
in the Arundel Coll. On the breaking out of the civil war of 1645,
the Earl removed to Antwerp, and thither Hollar also went and con-
tinued to engrave from the pictures of his patron. The Earl went to
Italy, and Hollar worked for the booksellers, but his pay was so
small that he ventured to return to England in 1652. Charles II.
was restored at length, and he hoped for better clays, but the plague
broke out, and he was reduced to great misery. He was afterwards
341
offence against his own royal person. As an engraver on wood
Holbein deserves especial notice. Before leaving Switzerland he
was employed by the most celebrated publishers of his time in Basle
Zurich, Leyden, and Lyons. His wood-cuts of the “ Dance of
Death” are his most important works. When complete, there are
fifty-three prints; but it is rare to find more than forty-six. They
are small, upright pictures, surrounded by a border. His Old Tes-
tament prints numbered ninety, and the best impression of them was
published in 1539 at Lyons, by the brothers Treschel. These two
series have been often reproduced. That engraved by Hollar in
1789 is finely executed. That by Dance, in 1833, is also excellent.
Holbein also made wood-cuts for a catechism executed in 1548. This
work is extraordinary and rare. It was republished at London in 1829.
The “ Pastime of the People, or the Chronicles of Divers Realms, and
most especially of the Realm of England,” printed first in 1529, was
republished by Dibden in 1811. Very few copies exist. In an illus-
tration of the Revelation of St. John, published by T. Wolff in 1523,
twenty-one wood-cuts of the Apocalypse are attributed to Holbein. A
celebrated wood-cut of an upright figure, under a decorated gate, called
Erasmus of Rotterdam, has been more recently printed; for the copper
still exists. In the first and second impressions there were Latin
inscriptions which have been omitted more recently. His “ Moriae
Encomium ” has been frequently printed. It consists of plates after
his humorous drawings, and is by no means among his best produc-
tions. There are also many title-pages, symbolical alphabets, etc.;
and the following portraits : —
Prince Henry Frederick; full length.
Thomas Egerton, Viscount Brackley, Lord Chancellor.
Sir John Hayward, Kt., LL. D.
Martin Billingsley, writing master.
Giovanni Floris, Italian master to Anne of Denmark.
Michael Drayton; prefixed to his works.
Holland. See Dance.
. v / Hollar, Wenceslaus, born at Prague (1607-
/ Vy z/ 1677). This eminent engraver was the pupil
VY, ' / of Matthew Merian. In 1636 the Earl of
Arundel met Hollar in Cologne, and considered his talents so re-
markable that he engaged his services, and took him to England,
where he made many plates, a large number 'being from the pictures
in the Arundel Coll. On the breaking out of the civil war of 1645,
the Earl removed to Antwerp, and thither Hollar also went and con-
tinued to engrave from the pictures of his patron. The Earl went to
Italy, and Hollar worked for the booksellers, but his pay was so
small that he ventured to return to England in 1652. Charles II.
was restored at length, and he hoped for better clays, but the plague
broke out, and he was reduced to great misery. He was afterwards